Marple Newtown takes a walk into quarterfinals

Thanks to wet field conditions, Marple Newtown had to wait an extra day to play its first-round game in the PIAA Class 5A baseball playoffs.

It was worth the wait.

The Tigers rolled over Boys Latin in five innings, 12-1, to advance to the quarterfinals for the third year in a row.

“It was sloppy, but we live to play another round,” Marple Newtown coach Mark Jordan said.

Marple Newtown (22-2) only had six hits, but took advantage of 11 walks, three errors and a number of wild pitches by the Warriors, the second-place team out of District 12, to set up a quarterfinal date with District 7 runnerup Mars Thursday at Replogle in New Enterprise.

The Fightin’ Planet knocked off District 3 champ Ephrata in nine innings Tuesday, 3-2. It will be a quick turnaround for the Tigers. The game will be played at Noon because Mars has graduation at 6:30 Thursday night.

“We’re getting the short straw but we’ll deal with it,” Jordan said. “We’ll see if that motivates us.”

The Tigers dealt with the Warriors rather quickly. Marple Newtown scored two runs in each of the first two innings, one in the third and broke the game open with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the 10-run mercy rule into play.

Although the Tigers only had six hits, not one batter struck out, Jordan said. Luke Cantwell was on base all four times to pace the offense. He was 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles and two walks. He also drove in a run. Reilly Fillman was 1-for-3 and scored three times. Luke Cantwell pitched in with a double and Andrew Cantwell got the win to keep the Tigers alive in the tournament.

“It’s the luck of the draw and we got a good draw,” Jordan said. “Now we have to see what we can do.”